The present invention relates to a tape printer that is configured to detachably house a tape cassette therein and that performs printing on a tape included in the tape cassette.
A tape printer is known that performs printing characters such as letters and the like with a print head on a tape that is pulled out from a tape cassette that is installed in a cassette housing portion of the tape printer. The tape printer can use a plurality of tape types of differing widths and structure, and a plurality of tape cassettes are therefore prepared for the tape printer that house the plurality of tape types.
The known tape printer detects a type of the tape cassette that is installed in the cassette housing portion with detecting switches that are provided in the cassette housing portion, in accordance with a cassette detection portion that is formed corresponding to the type of the tape. The tape cassette has the cassette detection portion on a section of the bottom surface, where through-holes and non-through-holes are formed in a pattern corresponding to the type of the tape. When the tape cassette is installed in the cassette housing portion, each of the detecting switches, which are constantly urged in an upward direction, opposes the through-hole or the non-through-hole in the cassette detection portion. The tape printer identifies the type of the tape cassette by detecting which of the detecting switches are pressed and which of the detecting switches are not pressed.